Cultural Aftermath
by Book girl fan
Summary: One of the Legends may have made a bigger impact on the timeline than Rip claimed.


**I have only seen the first five episodes of this show, but immediately I knew I had to write something for it.**

 **Title from this quote:** ** _Some people are so famous that the legends about them and the cultural aftermath of their life altogether obscure the real human being._** **\- Michael Korda**

"Did you say _Mick_ Rory? Not Nick?"

They all turned to look at Rip, expressions ranging from confused to suspicious.

"That's right."

"Short for Michael? As in Michael Francis Rory?"

Mick nodded, still looking just as suspicious. Behind his back, Kendra and Jax exchanged disbelieving glances, mouthing, 'Francis?'

"What's going on here, Hunter?" Len drawled, voice smooth but eyes hard. "You got a problem with my partner?"

"It's the timeline that has a problem!" Rip snapped. "Get back on the ship, we're going back to 2016, now."

"Not until we have some answers," Sara said, stepping forward. Without even seeming to move, she was now holding a knife. A very sharp, gleaming knife. "Why does the timeline have a problem with Mick Rory?"

Rip shook his head at all of them in frustration. "We need to get back on that ship! We can't waste time with all these questions!"

"Maybe it would help if you started finding some answers."

Rip looked around, but his crew were slowly nodding, apparently agreeing with Len's words. "It's the future. I can't tell you what hasn't yet happened," he tried to bluff, but was met with a heat gun barrel staring right between his eyes.

"We'll risk it," Len drawled.

He paced irritatedly across the path, evidently trying to think of a way out, then whirled on the crew. "Mick Rory? Michael Rory? He's a chef."

"A chef?" Jax blurted. "He never cooks anything!"

"There's nothing worth cooking with here," Mick growled. "Protein bars and powders ain't gonna make a decent meal. I only cook with real food."

Len didn't look surprised, eyes still trained on Rip. "Mick can cook. What's that got to do with the timeline?"

Rip shook his head condescendingly. "Mr Rory didn't just cook, Mr Snart. Chef Rory _redefined_ what cooking meant. It became socially and politically charged, an act of support or rebellion. Chef became a title as much respected as Sir or Doctor! One of the biggest issues of the mid 21st century was food deserts and the place of fresh food in modern society, and it all came about because of Chef Rory." Seeing their sceptical looks, he rolled his eyes. "You may not understand the importance of this, but in my time, there are elite schools that are dedicated to Rorian techniques; to be a Chef is to be someone with enormous political and social influence, someone who people will look to as a leader. One of your presidents even graduated from a Rorian cooking school!"

Sara snorted. "All that fuss, and you didn't recognise him when you heard his name the first time?"

Rip suddenly couldn't meet their eyes. "Well, I might have forgotten Chef Rory was, ah, a criminal."

Looks of stunned disbelief were exchanged amongst the rest of the crew, mixed with some measure of amusement.

"Seriously?" Jax asked, badly hiding his grin. "You forgot these two," he pointed to Len and Mick, "were thieves? They aren't just criminals, they're supervillains!"

"That fact has practically been lost to history!" Rip defended. "Chef Rory is known as a great chef, one of the best the world has ever seen, a figure with enormous influence who started out with nothing and ended up ruling the culinary world. Very few people remember that he started as a common criminal."

Len and Mick both bristled.

"And you're such a special Time Master that you do remember what a _common criminal_ I am?" Mick growled.

"I'm a Time Master. It's what we _do_." He turned back towards the ship, coat whirling dramatically behind him.

"Except that's not why, is it?"

At Len's words, Rip stiffened almost imperceptibly.

Smirk slowly growing, Len continued, "You wouldn't have cared if it was just the world at stake. History has a few hours before it settles, after all, and as long as we get back to 2016, it will all still happen. You'd risk it. This is something personal to you." He stepped closer. "The only question is, why?"

"That's none of your business, Mr Snart," Rip deflected. "We need to get back to the ship, now, and not waste any more time with this."

"I vote it was the wife," Sarah called. She stepped up beside Mick, at Len's other side, an obvious show of solidarity. "Maybe they met at one of those fancy cooking schools."

Mick snorted. "Him?" He jerked a thumb at Rip. "He couldn't make toast if you gave him bread and a toaster."

Rip inhaled sharply. "That's what Miranda used to say."

"Smart woman," Mick said with an approving nod.

"So she was the one who went to cooking school," Stein deduced, using the same tone he did when discussing physics, like this was a problem and he wanted to solve it. "I doubt you met there–"

"– not with his cooking," Mick interjected.

"– so it must have been something else, something related to cooking that made you meet."

Rip slumped, pinching the bridge of his nose to hold back the memories swarming him. "She didn't just go to a Rorian cooking school," he said tiredly. "She studied him, was his biggest fan. Made and remade all his recipes, researched his life, his history...That's how I found out you were a criminal," he continued, turning to Mick. "She said that it meant more, that you didn't have the advantages of fancy schools. That you chose cooking over crime, and turned your life around so thoroughly that the President herself shook your hand. That forgetting where you came from was forgetting why your food mattered. Not a very popular opinion," a sad smile rose to his lips, "but she never gave up on it. Even taught Jonas–" He choked, voice cutting off.

The Legends averted their eyes, uncomfortable with such a show of emotion from their usually stoic leader.

Finally, Mick stepped forward, laying on heavy hand on Rip's shoulder. "We're gonna go back to the ship," he told him firmly, "and I'm gonna make a barbecue your Miranda would be proud of." He exchanged a glance with Len, who nodded, slipping away with a smirk almost soft enough to be a smile. "Then you're gonna tell us everything about her, and Savage, without any of your stupid secrets."

Rip started to protest, but Mick just continued talking over him. "Because we're all gonna live, and defeat him once and for all, so I can get back to 2016 and start that cooking school."


End file.
